by Ryan McKeen
Prior to hitting “post”, I thought my post on Susan Bysiewicz would generate some buzz. It did. I’ve been taken aback by how much buzz it generated and how fast it generated it. It’s not easy being engaged in the “active practice of law” and responding to the media. This blog is my hobby. I don’t make any money from it. I enjoy doing it but I am a lawyer first and a blogger second. My priorities are clear. Addressing the needs of my clients in my ever growing practice comes before all else. Writing motions and responding to clients are more important to me than appearing on the local news.
A few thoughts:
1. I’m extending an open invitation to Susan Bysiewicz to post a response on this blog. This much is owed to her. I’ll give her all of the space she wants. I’ll keep her post up for a week and I won’t edit it. I’ll give her this forum to make her case. She is welcome to post whatever she wants on this site whenever she wants to post it.
2. I don’t know what it means to be engaged in “the active practice of law”. The practice of law means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. My day looks nothing like the day of an in-house counsel to an insurance company. My day is also vastly different than the day of an attorney who doesn’t spend anytime in court. I’m no more of an expert on this subject than I was before I wrote the post.
3. My post was not a personal attack on Susan Bysiewicz though she’s probably none too happy with me. If I were her, I wouldn’t be happy with me and that’s fine. This is a democracy and it’s important for lawyers to ask questions of those seeking elected office. I didn’t write the law but it exists. It’s fair to examine the credentials of a person who is seeking to become the top lawyer in the State. If nothing else the discussion is healthy.
4. The genesis of the post was this post. A pretty standard post for this site. After posting, I got a message from Gideon at A Public Defender asking if all of the candidates were qualified. I didn’t know. Since I’m not a fan of American Idol, I spent last night trying to answer Gideon’s question. I stumbled on Susan Bysiewicz’s biography on the Secretary of State’s website and that prompted the post. That’s it.
5. Who is Gideon? Since I’m not telling you who he is, I’ll tell you who he’s not. He’s not a candidate for Attorney General. He is an attorney engaged in the active practice of law. Gideon is a long time friend of this blog. He runs A Public Defender which is one of the better legal blogs that you’ll find on the net. I’ve met him in person and I swear to you that he’s not George Jepsen or that legislator from the shore who I’ve never heard of and don’t care to google. As bloggers, we commonly ask each other questions about each other’s posts. This was no different.
6. It is offensive to suggest that someone planted something on this blog. This site is above board. What you see is what you get. These thoughts are mine.
7. It will be interesting to see if the legislature defines “active practice at the bar of this state” this session.
8. Check out the comments on the post below. Lots of good stuff. Feel free to join the discussion.
9. These posts are mine. My firm does not exercise any editorial control over what is posted here. For better and for worse the buck stops with me.
10. This has been and will always be a law blog and not a political blog. This issue presents interesting questions of both law and fact. It’s the kind of issue that a law blog should deal with.
11. The post should come as no surprise to long time readers of this site. This blog is now in its third year. In that time, I’ve amassed over 400 posts on all sorts of topics. The only common theme is my curiosity. I look at the world and ask how does the law impact our everyday lives. Nothing more and nothing less.
Have a great weekend.